Movie

by Bob Brown Posted 3/10/15, 09:00 am

Chappie (rated R for violence, language, and brief nudity) is not so much a story about artificial intelligence as it is about human “programming.” Are we born blank slates? Does our DNA or our environment have the greater role in shaping our character? Director Neill Blomkamp insightfully portrays human nature through a self-aware robot, though a fatal flaw fouls the film’s finale.

Movie

by Bob Brown Posted 3/03/15, 04:55 pm

Don’t expect The Lazarus Effect (rated PG-13 for intense sequences of horror violence, terror, and some sexual references) to square with Biblical eschatology. “Hell,” says the lone resurrected character in the movie, “is when you relive the worst moment of your life and you never wake up.” Kinda like watching yet another unoriginal tale about deadish folks.

Movie

by Bob Brown Posted 3/03/15, 01:25 pm

“You get their focus, then you can take whatever you want.” This is how Nicky explains to Jess the art of lifting a mark’s valuables. It also describes Hollywood’s cinematic strategy: Tantalize with skin and salty language, and the public will hand over its wallet. Focus (rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief violence) offers the eye and ear candy many moviegoers gobble up, but the director fails to follow his main character’s advice on what starts out as a smart story.

Movie

Bob Brown | 2/23/15, 02:00 pm

Popular high school quarterback Wesley (Robbie Amell) finds a beautiful person inside socially inept Bianca (Mae Whitman). In turn she discovers that his dumb jock exterior masks the soul of a true friend (and more). Sadly, the producers of The DUFF (rated PG-13 for crude and sexual material, some language, and teen partying) fail to see the light Wesley and Bianca stumble into.

Movie

Bob Brown | 2/14/15, 10:00 am

Movie

Bob Brown | 2/14/15, 09:00 am

At the end of Strange Magic (rated PG for some action and scary images), the Fairy King admonishes his subjects: “Never judge something by how it or he or she looks.” Moviegoers should heed his warning.

Movie

Bob Brown | 2/13/15, 12:10 pm

Old fashioned has taken it on the chin. Long gone are the days of courting and saving intimacy for marriage. But the modern attitude toward sex is not exclusive to the unchurched. The new film Old Fashioned (rated PG-13 for thematic elements) examines the struggles young, single Christians face in a sex-saturated culture. It opened today, just in time for Valentine's Day.

Education

Bob Brown | 1/24/15, 04:43 pm

How improbable is this: Put the organization of a biblical worldview conference into the hands of teenagers. Trust these high schoolers to coordinate transportation from Mason, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., reserve hotel and conference rooms, and arrange speaking engagements with members of Congress.

Movie

Bob Brown | 11/25/14, 09:00 am

Nightcrawler’s Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhall) is neither hero nor anti-hero: He’s a loner trying to keep busy. After he happens on a car wreck and meets a nightcrawler—a cameraman who works into the early hours of the morning filming accidents and crime scenes and selling the footage to TV news stations—he buys a police scanner and a used video camera and begins a new career.

Crime

Bob Brown | 11/24/14, 11:18 am

Portland police last week arrested the co-founder of Human Rights Campaign for the felony sexual abuse of a 15-year-old boy. Charges against Terrence Bean, 66, include two counts of third-degree sodomy. Bean was booked on Nov. 19 and released on bail the same day.